Saiyuki: Fluttering Feathers
by Synchronized Fate
Summary: discontinued. its been a long time, anyways. my early writing was way too mary sue for me now ;
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Damn…they just keep sending more and more and more…" complained a guy with crimson colored hair.

"Now, now, Gojyo, at least they're not very strong." Said another man, but with short brown hair and smiling.

"I guess you have a point there…" the guy referred to as Gojyo said.

"Yo! Hakkai! What's for dinner? I'm starving!" another guy, who was obviously younger than the rest, with short brown hair and a coronet around his head, said.

"Shut up!" yelled yet another man, but this one had blonde hair and was carrying a handgun.

"Please, Sanzo, watch your temper," said the guy called Hakkai.

"Tell that monkey, Goku, to shut up!" Sanzo yelled.

"I didn't do anything!!" protested the younger one, Goku.

Sanzo quickly spun around, pointing his gun at Goku, "I said shut up! Your voice is grating on my nerves!"

"Yo! Watch out!" Gojyo yelled as a chain shot out of the end of his crescent topped shakujou and killed three youkai in one blow.

A shining yellow light started forming in Hakkai's hands. A sphere of chi energy. When fully formed, he sent it flying at five youkai that were coming up behind Gojyo. Hakkai looked at Gojyo, a smug smile on his face, "You should be more aware, Gojyo."

"Oh, shut up..." Gojyo said indignantly.

"Just hurry up and let's go!" Sanzo said sternly, like a warning of what would happen if they didn't.

"Jeez, what's his problem, Hakuryu?" Goku asked the jeep he was standing next to.

The jeep replied with a low, "Cheep…"

Hakkai wiped dirt off his hands on his pants and smiled, acknowledging that the enemy youkai were finally all defeated. "All done here," he said, motioning for everyone to get into the jeep, which they did.

Hakkai climbed into the driver's seat and took hold of the steering wheel. He then spoke to the jeep, "Everyone's in, Hakuryu. Let's go!"

The jeep, Hakuryu, started rumbling as the engine started. It let out a hearty "Cheep!" and sped off to the west, where a town supposedly awaited.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The quartet soon arrived at their next rest stop. Hakkai drove up in front of a hotel and stopped the car.

"Finally! Food!!" Goku shouted excitedly as he hopped out of the car.

"Finally! Women!!" Gojyo also excitedly shouted as he also leapt from the car.

Sanzo got up quietly and walked to the hotel, completely ignoring Goku and Gojyo's stupid remarks.

"I think something's been bothering Sanzo," Hakkai ventured a guess. "I'll go see what's up." Hakkai followed Sanzo into the hotel.

Hakkai approached Sanzo just as he was walking away from the hotel clerk's desk. "Sanzo, is something wrong?" he asked, seeing that Sanzo had a couple of room keys in his hand.

"No," Sanzo replied, bluntly, giving Hakkai one of the keys.

"It's not nice to lie, Sanzo…" Hakkai said, with a teasing smile on his face.

Sanzo got mad. "I'm supposed to 'recruit' someone here!"

"Huh? Why?" asked Goku, popping into the conversation out of nowhere.

Sanzo became more mad now. "Apparently, I need to add yet another dumb person to join our little 'escapade' to the west," Sanzo explained.

"Really? That _is_ surprising!" Hakkai stated.

"No shit…." Gojyo butted in, snatching one of the room keys out of Sanzo's hand.

"So… what kind of person are we looking for?" Goku asked after taking the other room key.

"A… woman……" Sanzo said, stuffing the final room key somewhere in his robes and walking off, not wanting to hear the reactions that were going to come.

"Really! Now this is getting' interesting!" Gojyo exclaimed excitedly, "What's she like?"

"… don't know…" Sanzo said, completely uninterested.

"What do you mean 'You don't know'?!" Gojyo asked angrily. "Just how are we supposed to find her if you don't know anything about her?!"

"She's supposed to be… like Hakkai…" Sanzo ignored half of what Gojyo said.

Hakkai smiled. "How do you mean she's like me?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Sanzo answered bluntly, "Your circumstances of becoming a youkai."

"Oh… is that so?" Hakkai continued smiling, but looked down.

Suddenly, a voice came over the PA system, "Starting in 30 minutes is HAPPY HOUR! SO EVERYONE COME ON DOWN TO THE BAR! LIVE ENTERTAINMENT!"

"Hmm… I'm likin' this! I'm going!" Gojyo exclaimed, heading over to the bar.

"I suppose I'll go to, can't let him get be drunk by himself…" Hakkai said and followed Gojyo to the bar.

Goku started after the two men excitedly, "Yay!! Alcohol! C'mon, Sanzo!" Goku turned around so he was running backwards to make sure Sanzo was following.

"Hmph…." Sanzo reluctantly followed as well.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Later that night, they were all in the bar… drinking.

"Yo! Bartender! Get me another drink, yeah?" Gojyo demanded.

"Why don't you hold off on the drinking, buddy?" The live entertainment is coming on soon," the bartender told him, matter of factly.

"_Live_ entertainment, you say? What kind?" Gojyo asked, really wanting to know.

But before the bartender could answer, a stage at the back of the room lit up, and there was a band of musicians and a lone microphone in the center. Then, a young girl, of about 20 or 21, stepped up to the mic. She had long blonde hair that went down to a little above the start of her legs. She also had a silver dress, going down to just above her knees, and two pearl-like bracelets on her right hand.

Gojyo whistled. Goku spun around in his chair, even though he wasn't allowed to drink alcohol and wasn't drunk. Hakkai watched to find out what was going to happen next, and Sanzo had his back turned to the whole thing, completely uninterested.

The girl adjusted the microphone and waited. Suddenly, a voice boomed over the PA again, but only in the bar this time.

"WE PRESENT TO YOU OUR LITTLE SONGBIRD FROM FAR AWAY. GIVE IT UP AND LISTEN TO THIS BIRD SING!"

All of them started clapping, except Sanzo.

The girl took hold of the mic and the musicians started playing. The girl closed her eyes, mostly because she didn't like singing for lots of people, but then opened them again.

Then, the girl started singing. It was a pleasant song, and her voice had a soft ringing sound to it. No one would've known that she was making up the words to the song as she was going, not even the musicians.

"Soomewhere under the great blue sky. A foolish dreamer, was left abandooned. Underneath the great blue skyyy…

I waaited too loong, and now must regreet the loss of a futiiile hoope… And flying iin the skyy I would stand oout. A blue of blues- not like aaany of the blues aanywhere…"

Her song continued for a little while longer, and when it was over, the people in the bar clapped and whistled enthusiastically. She gave a slight bow and began walking off the stage, but before se reached the end, a drunken guy reached for the hem of her dress and pulled, taking her down off the stage, and "conveniently" onto the man's lap.

"Hey there, baby, so nice of you to drop in! Hehehehe," the man teased, thinking he was the funniest thing ever.

"Let go of me!" the girl demanded. She stood up and tried to walk away.

"Hold on, baby, I'm not done with you yet!" he told her as he grabbed her arm.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled, getting the attention of Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai.

Hakkai watched, then suggested, "We should go help her…"

"I agree!" Goku replied, eager to do something, and now standing up on his chair.

Gojyo chimed in as they all stood up, "I can't forgive a guy who hurts a lady."

The girl punched the guy in the face, "I said LET GO!"

The man was sent across practically the whole room. He stood up above the broken bits of table and shouted at her, blood emerging from various cuts and other places on him, "Y-you bitch! You're a freak!" He ran out of the bar with the rest of his posse, eager to be getting away from her.

"Owowowow…!" the girl started cradling her fist in her other hand, cringing with pain.

Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai stood there, dumbstruck, until Hakkai snapped out of it and walked up to her sitting on the floor. "Are you okay?" he asked, offering her his hand to help her up.

She looked up at him surprised, "Um… yes, I'm fine. Thank you," she replied and took his hand.

"I must say, I was rather surprised at how you were able to hit him so hard," he said to her, "By the way, I'm Hakkai."

"I-I'm Ringo," she answered nervously, "And that…. Well… um…"

Gojyo was suddenly standing next to her, "Hey, I'm Gojyo. What are you doing later?"

Gojyo was interrupted by Goku jumping on his back and introducing himself. "I'm Goku! And don't mind him, he's just a wanna-be play-boy!"

"Shut up, damn monkey!!" Gojyo yelled, as he tried to pry Goku off his back, getting in an argument in the process.

"I'm not a monkey!" Goku yelled back.

"And him over there…" Hakkai pointed over to Sanzo, "He's Sanzo." He then called out to Sanzo, "Come and say 'Hello' Sanzo!"

But Sanzo only got up and walked out of the bar.

"Don't mind him," Gojyo explained, "He's nothing but a prick…"

"Now, now, Gojyo…" Hakkai said, smiling.

Then, the manager of the bar, a fat, gaudy little man, walked in, "RINGO! YOU'VE GOT SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!"

"Ah-! Um… I'm really sorry, sir!" Ringo apologized and bowed down really low, "I'm really sorry. It's just, that guy, he-."

The manager interrupted, "I don't wanna hear it, you ungrateful little-!" He held his hand above his head, as if to smack Ringo, making her flinch.

But, just as he was about to make contact, Hakkai grabbed his wrist, "Not that it's any of my business, sir, but it's not right to hit a lady."

"And just who are you?!"

Hakkai smiled, "I'm a customer of this hotel, and I could complain about this place and its supervisor- you. If compelled to do so."

"Oh! Um… my apologies, good sir!" the manager backed off and bowed. "I'll just be leaving now!" He ran out of the room.

"Thank you so much!" Ringo turned to Hakkai and smiled, "I really appreciate what you've done!"

"Don't worry about it! But what gives him the right to do those things to you?" he asked, returning the smile.

"It's… a complicated story…" she looked down, to avoid eye contact. "I-I'm sorry… but I have to go!" She hurried out of the bar.

Goku and Gojyo were waiting for Hakkai at the door that led to the hotel, "Hakkai! You coming or not?" Goku shouted.

"I'm coming," he replied, walking over to them. "Shall we?" he asked as they all walked into the hotel.


	4. Chapter 4: Another Fateful Encounter

**Chapter 4: Another Fateful Encounter**

Later that night, Hakkai, Goku, Gojyo, and Sanzo were sleeping, but there was a rustling outside the window.

Hakkai heard it, because it was closest to his window and, honestly, a little loud. He got up and went over to the window, and opened it up to see what was going on. Looking around, he called out into the bushes and darkness of the night, "Is anyone there?"

After he said that, the rustling stopped. Hakkai looked around carefully, his eyes carefully scanning the area for someone. He chuckled softly, "You know, I can see you sitting there, Ms. Ringo."

Ringo Stood up and turned around to face Hakkai, her apprehender. This time, she was wearing jeans and a shirt that tied up in the back, quite different from what she had on later that night. She had a bag slung over her shoulder.

"Oh darn! You saw me!" she joked, but her tone became more serious and she pleaded, "But please, don't tell anyone you saw me!"

"… What's wrong?" Hakkai asked. But before Ringo had a chance to answer, they heard a shout that sounded like the manager from the bar.

"Where did you go, you dirty little bitch!?" The manager shouted, obviously getting closer since he was getting louder.

Hakkai suddenly reached forward and grabbed Ringo, who was standing still like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. He pulled her into his room through the window.

"Wha-!?" Ringo cried out, but she suddenly felt a hand put over her mouth. It was Hakkai's hand, his other arm around her shoulders. Ringo was a little embarrassed because she was being held rather close by some guy she had just met. They were slowly moving backwards.

"Shh… don't make a noise…" Hakkai whispered as he shut off the light with the hand that had been on her shoulder.

Right outside the window, the manager could be heard yelling, "Damnit! Where did she go?! The dumb bitch! How dare she run away from us after what we did for her?!"

Hakkai took his hand off Ringo's mouth and let go of her. He walked over to the wondow and opened it. With a smile, he said to the manager, "Excuse me, sir, but could you please keep it down? I'm trying to sleep."

The manager stopped and whirled around, a shocked expression appeared on his face when he saw that it was Hakkai. He quickly apologized, "I-I'm so sorry, sir! Please excuse my ignorance!" He bowed down so low his nose practically touched the ground. "I-I'll just be leaving now…"

"Alrighty, then!" Hakkai said and smiled as he went back in and closed the window. He turned around and looked at Ringo.

"Thank you so much! I'm really very grateful!" she bowed her head down, then looked back at him and smiled.

"Don't worry about it," Hakkai said, smiling back, "But now, I really think you should tell me what's going on…"


	5. Chapter 5: Painful Memories

**Chapter 5: Painful Memories**

Ringo looked down, with a said, clouded look in her eyes, "Yes… I suppose you're right… but… where to start?"

Hakkai listened intently, without saying a word.

"You see… when I was younger, I was engaged to a youkai…" she started.

"_Inari! I was looking for you!" shouted Ringo._

_"Is that so? Well, now that we're alone," said a strange youkai guy, "I have something I want to ask you." He got down on his knees, "I'd be honored… if you would be my wife."_

_Ringo stood there, shocked. She then glomped him and said, "Of course! Of course I will!"_

_"Great! Let's go tell everyone!" Inari said, "I'm sure they'll be thrilled!!_

_"Alright! Let's go!" Ringo replied, taking his hand as they let the garden they were in._

"That doesn't sound so bad…" Hakkai said.

"But it is…" Ringo told him, "Because then, on the day of the wedding…"

_Ringo was standing in front of a mirror in a wedding dress, her face beaming, "I'm so excited!" she said, exasperated._

_She walked out to where the guests would be, they were all her family because Inari had always told her that he didn't have any family. She stopped at the beginning of the aisle, shocked, scared, and confused. Her whole family, every last person, was covered in blood and torn up. Ringo quickly turned away and threw up, then, wiping her mouth on the back of her glove-covered hand, she looked around._

_It was then that she saw Inari. "Inari!!" Ringo shouted at him, on the verge of crying, "Why?! Why did you kill my family, Inari!?_

_He chuckled maniacally, looking at the blood dripping off his fingers and smiling, "Did you really think that I would marry a human as dumb and clueless as you?"_

_Now tears were rolling down her cheeks. "Y-You're insane! You're mad!" she shouted at him again, slowly moving towards a white clad table. She inconspicuously picked up one of the silver knives off the table and hid it behind her arm, its hilt resting easily in the palm of her hand._

_"Oh! How I've longed to rip you to pieces!" Inari said, looking quite happy. "And now… I can!" He suddenly rushed at Ringo with his claws pointed at her._

_But when he got close, she thrust the knife she had picked up into his chest, making him miss his direct mark, but still put a number of huge tears in her dress._

_"Damn you, Inari! Damn you!" she screamed at him, "I swear! I'll kill you and every one of your youkai friends!! You're all the same! Damn you!"_

"… I'm sorry…" Hakkai sympathized.

Ringo smiled, but it was a halfhearted smile. "And I did…I killed all of them… it was so wrong…" Ringo admitted, "But then, I got to the 1000th youkai and killed him…"

_Ringo dropped to the ground, cringing in pain. She held her head in her hands while her ears grew long and pointed. Then, fangs began to develop in her mouth and a sharp pain shot through her back. Suddenly, large white wings ripped through the skin and clothes on her back, splattering blood droplets in every direction._

_"W-What's… going … on?" she stammered, in between cringes of pain. Then, she felt another, different pain in her back. It was caused by a knife being plunged into her back, and being dragged down in a diagonal line across her back. Ringo screamed._

_"Looks like you became a youkai yourself," taunted a familiar voice._

_"I-Inari! I… I killed you!" Ringo yelled when she recognized the voice._

_"Guess not," Inari said, bluntly, he then smirked, "Tell me, how does it feel… Being killed with the same knife you tried to kill me with, that is."_

_Ringo's eyes flashed with anger as her pupils shrunk to slits and her nails grew long and sharp. She whirled around and stabbed Inari all the way through with her claws, "Damn you! Die!"_

_When she knew for sure he was dead, she collapsed to the floor and her vision went bad. She couldn't see a thing, she could feel her other senses getting ready to go out as well. And then, they did._

"When I woke up the next morning, I was in this very hotel, all bandaged and stuff, I also had these," Ringo said as she lifted her hand up, showing Hakkai the two bracelets she wore around her wrist. She lowered her hand once again, "I never talked about what happened to anyone before… until now." Her voice became weak as she started to cry a little.

"Now, now, you shouldn't cry," Hakkai comforted her, "You look much prettier when you smile." He wiped a tear off her face with his thumb.

Then, Hakkai heard a noise from behind the door. He walked over to it and listened. Voices could faintly be heard from the other side.

"Move out of the way, Gojyo!" Goku's voice said, obviously trying to be quiet.

"Get off me, dumb monkey!" Gojyo's voice said to Goku, also trying to be quiet.

Hakkai opened the door suddenly and Gojyo and Goku fell into the room. "Well, well… what's going on here?" he asked suspiciously.

"Er… we weren't listening or anything…" Gojyo clearly lied.

"Right… we weren't doing nothing!" Goku also clearly lied, "I was… uhh… going to the bathroom!"

"Together, eh?" Hakkai teased, knowing very well that they were lying.

Ringo asked them nervously, "H-How much did you hear?"

"Uh…." Goku and Gojyo said together, trying to think of something to say.

"Everything," Sanzo said, suddenly standing in the doorway.

"E-Everything?" Ringo repeated nervously.

"Yes. And judging by your story… you've gotta come with us. As much as I disapprove, you're supposed to go with us," Sanzo said, sounding rather irritated.

"I'm going with all you?" Ringo asked, unable to believe that she would now have an excuse to leave this place.

"That's great!" Goku shouted.

"Yes, it is!" Hakkai agreed.

"So… I can finally leave this place?" Ringo asked again, still unable to believe that she was going to be leaving.

"Yep," Gojyo joked around, "You get to put up with us instead. Congrats."

"But, if they find me, they won't let me leave…" she said doubtfully.

"Then we'll sneak you out!" Goku told her, still excited. He didn't bother asking anyone else if it would work.

Ringo asked them doubtfully again, "But how?"

Sanzo dropped a blanket over Ringo's head. The way it rested on her head made it resemble a cloak of sorts, and it was big enough that if she stood up, it would probably cover her whole self lightly. "Wait in someone's room till tomorrow when we leave," Sanzo explained.

"What a great idea, Sanzo!" Hakkai said, "But whose room would be suitable to not be able to be found easily?"

"Not mine," Sanzo said, bluntly.

"She can sleep in mine, hehe…" Gojyo sneered.

"Uh, no… It would probably be best if she stayed in Goku's room," Hakkai told them.

"Fine with me!" Goku said excitedly, "C'mon! Let's go!"

"O-Ok …" Ringo replied, a little unsure of how to react, "I guess… good night then."

"Good night," Hakkai said back.

"G'night," Gojyo said, lighting up a cigarette.

"Hmph…" Sanzo huffed as he walked away.

"And thank you, everyone…" she added.

They all smiled and each said their own variation of "your welcome".


	6. Chapter 6: FLight for Freedom

**Chapter 6: Flight for Freedom**

The next morning, everyone met in Goku's room to get ready to take their leave. Ringo draped a piece of blanket that she had torn off from the main one. It hung over her head in such a way that if she looked down, no one could see her face but she could still see where she was going. She pinned it together under her chin so it wouldn't fall down.

"Alright," she said to them, "I'm done. Let's go!"

Sanzo impatiently mumbled, "It's about damn time…"

Ringo shot Sanzo an irritated look, "What was that…?"

"Now, now," Hakkai interrupted, hoping to stop a possible argument, "We're ready, so Ringo, follow us to the street and don't look around all that much, okay?" He instructed further, "And guys, try to cover her… so she's not too easily seen."

Gojyo also gave instructions, though he was only teasingly imitating Hakkai, "Yeah, be sure to follow us almost exactly!" A wide grin spread across his face, thinking he was being really funny.

But Ringo took it seriously and nodded. "Right. Ok," she said, making a mental note to follow their instructions as closely as possible.

Sanzo headed for the door, closely followed by Hakkai, then Ringo tried to get herself caught in the middle, getting there before Gojyo. Goku followed last, looking around, as if looking for hidden ninjas or something.

They soon made it outside, hardly anyone paid any mind to some person walking around in a "cloak".

"Alright, Hakuryu, let's go," Hakkai said to the small white dragon on his shoulder.

Hakuryu jumped sown from Hakkai's shoulder and transformed into a jeep. Ringo watched, shocked, yet in awe, since never before had she seen anything like that ever happen before.

Everyone climbed in, except Ringo, who still stood, shocked.

Goku turned to her, "C'mon! We gotta get goin'!"

Ringo nodded as she climbed into the back seat, squeezing in between Gojyo and Goku.

But then, a familiar little man, the manager, came running out of the main building, "Damn it! Where did the wench go!?" He ran up to the jeep, "Excuse me, gentlemen." Ringo ducked down nervously as he approached. The manager continued talking, "But, have you seen the song girl from the other day around here anywhere?"

"No," Sanzo answered, without hesitation.

"Are you sure? She can be tricky sometimes," the manager told them.   
He then noticed something. "Hey… wait a minute… weren't there only four of you before?"

"No, there was always five," Sanzo said, more bluntly than ever before.

"Really…" the manager said, obviously not believing him.

Sanzo suddenly whipped out his handgun and held it against the manager's head, right between the eyes, "Do you doubt me?" he asked.

"N-No! Not at all, sir!" the manager replied, as he stifled a cry of fear.

"That's what I thought," Sanzo said to the manager, and then he commanded, "Now leave."

"Y-Yes, sir!" the, manager said as he quickly turned around and hurried away.

After, they quickly left the town. When they were a few miles away from it, Ringo spoke up, "Thank you so much…"

"Um… perhaps your thanks were a little too soon…" Hakkai said, almost apologetically, "You're not the only one with people after you." He softly chuckled.

Ringo wondered what he meant, but then she looked ahead, and, to her surprise, she saw about 50 youkai, blocking their path.

"Shall we, boys?" Gojyo asked as he stood up.

"I-I wanna fight, too!" Ringo demanded, a little excitedly, but also a little nervous.

"No, it's too dangerous and would be too much of a hassle having to save you from youkai," Sanzo refused.

"B-But… I have a weapon I can use!" Ringo fought back, finally taking off the Blanket she had pinned on and unsheathing two dagger-like blades from sheathes she wore around opposite sides of her waist.

"Hmm," Gojyo approved, "Looks like the girl wants to fight! And I say 'Let my women fight!'" Once again, a large grin was placed on his face.

The youkai came closer and the quintet braced themselves. Gojyo took out his shakujou, Goku called his nyoi-boi, Sanzo loaded his handgun with bullets, and Hakkai just stood there smiling.

One of the youkai, who was in the front line of their attack, dared to jump ahead of the rest and leapt at the Sanzo party. But before it even got close, Sanzo greeted it with a bullet that went straight through his skull. That provoked the other youkai, and they all went charging forward.

Gojyo twirled his shakujou, and a long chain connected to the crescent blade on the end came shooting out, incapacitating a good number of them. "What a great way to get started!" Gojyo stated, half-joking.

"You sure are having fun, Gojyo," Hakkai said as he blasted away more youkai with his chi energy.

"Well, it _has_ been a while since we got to fight," Goku said playfully, while fighting hand to hand with a few more of the youkai.

"Will you all just shut up?!" Sanzo said as he fired three quick shots, each hitting their marks in three different youkai.

"You four sure are a colorful bunch," Ringo teased, "Even in the middle of a fight!" She leapt above four and twisted in the air so she was facing them. She threw one of her blades at them, which hit one of them and then quickly turned and hit another, and then it landed in the ground. Ringo landed back on the ground as well right next to it. She quickly picked it up and turned just in time to slice the third youkai.

"Mmm… young girl!" the fourth youkai said, approaching, excited with the prospect of killing a young girl.

"Ew! Gross!" Ringo said as she spun around on her foot, landing her other one right in the youkai's face with enough force to send him to the ground.

Soon, the battle was over. They all returned to Hakuryu, not even all that tired. Hakkai started the ignition and eased the gas on.

"Well," he said, "That sure was a refreshing change of pace."

"What the hell're you talking' about?! It's always like that!" Gojyo told Hakkai, a little annoyed with the way Hakkai was acting.

Hakkai smiled, "I meant as opposed to the peacefulness of town life that we just left."

Gojyo was silent for a moment. Maybe trying to think of something to say back to that. "… Yeah, whatever…" He obviously wasn't able to think of anything in that short amount of time.

Hakkai sped up a little, catching Gojyo off guard, making him fall back a little.

"Damn it, Hakkai! Let us know when you're gonna do that!" He demanded after regaining himself.

Ringo laughed. She could tell this was going to be an interesting trip.

Goku suddenly stood up and pointed to the direction they were heading, the sun setting before them, "Westward we go!"


	7. Chapter 7: Unleashing the Inner Demon

**Ch. 7: Unleashing the Inner Demon**

During the night, they all stopped to rest. The only movement was Ringo, who sat up moved around a little bit.

"Sorry, but it's a little cramped back there," Hakkai apologized with a sympathetic smile.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine," she replied, "I think I'm gonna go take a walk real quick, I'm a bit restless, y'know? Would you like to come with me?"

Hakkai smiled at the invitation. Then replied as he stood up, "Sure, why not? Let's go."

"Alright," Ringo said as they walked towards a big boulder sitting in a clearing.

When they reached the boulder, Hakkai hopped up on it and offered his hand to Ringo, "Shall I help you?" He had a playful tone in his voice and was smiling.

Ringo smiled back and accepted his hand, then replied with a small amount of sarcasm in her voice, "My, what a gentleman you are." She took a seat on the boulder next to him. She noticed the sky, "Wow…" she commented in awe, "I haven't seen this many stars since… I don't know when…"

Just as Hakkai was about to reply, a cross shaped blade zipped in out of nowhere towards them. Hakkai, sensing something coming from behind, pushed Ringo down to keep her out of the way.

"What naughty little children you are," taunted a woman's voice, "You should be punished for moving out of the way of my blade."

"Who's there?!" Hakkai shouted out as he stood up on the boulder, Ringo followed suit, though much more quietly.

Suddenly, a strange woman with very long nails, short black hair, and a rather short skirt type thing. It was the same woman who was just talking.

"Maybe I'll just take these pretty pretty bracelets from you and say we're even," she said, then paused, "and then… I'll kill you!!" She grabbed for Ringo's right arm and took hold of the bracelets.

"No! Stop!" Ringo shouted, "You have no idea what you're doing!" She struggled to get away, but couldn't. The woman's grip was just too tight.

"Now, now, just hold still," the woman said as she yanked off both of the bracelets.

Suddenly, Ringo's eyes widened. She quickly took a step back. She shouted, mostly at Hakkai, "S-Stay away from me!" A waver in her voice revealed all the fear she felt for what was going on.

Then, large white wings erupted from her back, drops of blood splattering around her from the wings tearing through her back. She staggered backwards even more as her ears grew long and thin and her nails became longer and sharp. She sank to her knees, then, as her eyes shrunk to mad slits and her teeth grew to fangs.

"Ringo!" Hakkai called to her with worry. It was plain to see that this particular transformation hadn't been undergone very often, so the negative effects were far worse than they would be.

"Oh my! It seems I picked on a youkai!" the woman taunted even more.

"Give back the bracelets!" Hakkai demanded of the woman.

"Heh. I don't think so. This is becoming interesting," she smirked.

Ringo suddenly came up from behind the woman and tried to slice at her with her nails, but the woman sensed her and jumped into a tree.

"How did she-!?" Hakkai started to say, but stopped as Ringo flapped her wings a few times and soon came up off the ground. "Wow!" Even though she had wing, he still couldn't believe that she was able to fly like that.

Ringo flew through the air, picking up speed as she circled a few times before approaching the tree through the top. Then, folded her wings against her back and dove straight down through the top of the tree at the woman, claws extended, ready to attack. She was going at a speed that, no matter how fast the woman could react, couldn't be avoided. Ringo shot down and plummeted her claws and fist right through the woman's chest, making her drop the bracelets she was holding hostage.

Hakkai managed to catch the falling bracelets and, just for good measure, took a half step back and shot a chi blast at the woman, carefully avoiding Ringo with precise aim.

Then, Ringo turned around and started running towards Hakkai. She lunged at him, but he jumped to the side to avoid it. While in the middle of his jump, he grabbed her right arm and carefully slid one of the bracelets onto her wrist. However, before he could get the other one on, Ringo yanked away from his grasp.

Even just having one of the bracelets on did some good though. Ringo's teeth went back to normal, her pupils returned to their normal shape, and her nails shrunk back from deadly weapons to normal sized. Then, Ringo quickly took a step back and grabbed her head, as if in pain.

"H-Hakkai…" she stuttered, her tone of voice sounded like a plea for help. She then folded her wings around herself, as if protecting herself from something.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he started walking towards her.

She replied, obviously frustrated because the frustration could be heard in her voice now too, "I feel so… drained…" She then sighed and dropped to her knees.

"Here," Hakkai sat down by her and took her hand, "I think you'll be wanting this back." He carefully slid the other bracelet over her hand.

Then, Ringo's ears went back to normal and her wings somehow dissipated, the feathers gently floating down to the ground.

She let out a great sigh of relief and collapsed forward with exhaustion.

Hakkai caught her and smiled. He then picked her up. He remembered what Ringo had said about the stars and looked at the sky, and then he hesitantly walked back to where the others were. When they got back, Hakkai gently laid Ringo back in her spot, so as not to wake her, even though he doubted she would even be able to wake up yet. Then, he went back to his spot as well.


	8. Chapter 8: A Drive With Plentiful Banter

**Chapter 8: A Drive With Plentiful Banter**

The next morning, they were on their way again. Ringo woke up to find herself lying between Goku and Gojyo.

"Mornin' sleeping beauty," Gojyo teased.

"You sure slept in late!" Hakkai said, smiling.

Ringo looked up suddenly and gave Hakkai an expression that said "How?". Hakkai just smiled and kept driving.

Gojyo kept looking from Hakkai to Ringo and back, "Is there something going on here that none of us know about?" he teased.

"WH-What are you talking about?" Ringo cried as a faint blush spread across her face.

"Yeah! What _do _you mean, Gojyo?" Goku asked, obviously not understanding what Gojyo was getting at.

"You know," Gojyo explained, "They're secretly going behind the scenes and doing the XXX with the XXX and XXX'd for an XXXing great time!"

"W-What?!" Ringo yelled, blushing even more. She pushed against Gojyo's shoulder with both her hands, making him lean over the edge of Jeep for a few seconds.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he pushed her back and she fell over onto her side.

"Shut up!" Sanzo shouted, pointing his pistol into the air above him and firing a shot, "I _will_ kill you all!"

"I didn't do anything!" Goku protested indignantly.

"I _said_ SHUT UP!" Sanzo yelled again, pointing his gun in Goku's face.

Everyone fell backwards into their seats as Hakkai suddenly sped up. "Please hold on," he warned, "I'm planning to accelerate." He smiled.

"Damn it!" Tell us sooner next time!" Gojyo complained, picking himself up and sitting up again. Goku and Ringo picked themselves back up, too, but instead of sitting down, Ringo leaned forward on her hands and knees to the front seat to talk to Hakkai.

"No offense, Hakkai," she told him, "But I think he's got a point…" She sounded a little apologetic.

Hakkai just smiled. He looked in his rear-view mirror at her, but also saw Gojyo staring at Ringo… obviously not at her face, though. "Gojyo…" Hakkai said to him, "It's not polite to stare at a girl's… well…"

He didn't get a chance to finish, but he didn't need to. As soon as he had gotten that far, Ringo spun around and smacked Gojyo right in the face.

"What the hell?!" Gojyo yelled, clutching his hand to where he had gotten hit.

"What do you mean 'What the hell'?" Ringo shouted back at him furiously.

"You slapped me!" Gojyo yelled and pointed to his face, "I need this y'know!"

"For what? Scaring crows? Besides, you deserved it!"

Gojyo sat down indignantly, unable to think of any snappy comebacks.

"Y'know, Gojyo," Goku sneered, "You really did deserve it."

"Shut up! You have nothing to do with it, monkey!" Gojyo yelled, irritated.

"_Someone's_ in a bad mood…" Goku huffed, slouching down in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest.

Ringo suddenly sat completely upright, and an evil grin spread across her face. "Gojyo," she said with a super sarcastic tone, "I had no idea THAT YOU WERE ON YOUR PERIOD!"

With that, Hakkai and Ringo couldn't help but burst out with laughter. Goku didn't get it, so he kept looking around confused. Gojyo was burning mad.

"Sanzo! Tell them to shut up!" Gojyo demanded angrily.

But Sanzo did nothing. He just sat there, the shadows from his hair and position covering his face. He was clearly either extremely disturbed, or was on the verge of a sort of "near-laughter". Gojyo looked at him with a flask of anger in his glare. He then sullenly slumped back down into his seat, ignoring everybody, knowing that he had lost this round.

"C'mon, Gojyo," Goku said, "It was a joke!"

But Gojyo didn't respond, he just looked straight in front of him, ignoring everyone else and not saying anything. Goku tried waving his hand in front of Gojyo's face, but he got no response.

"Gojyo. Hey, Gojyo," Goku tried getting his attention, "There's a pile of yummy meat buns behind you!..."

Gojyo didn't look.

"Gojyo," Goku tried again, "There's a warm bath behind you!..."

Again, it didn't work.

"Gojyo," Ringo also tried, "I'm taking off my clothes behind you!"

Not only did this remark make Gojyo instantly turn around (only to be disappointed), but, for some reason, it also made Hakkai suddenly start choking… on nothing. His coughing made him have to slow down the car a bit.

"Are you alright, Hakkai?" she asked him.

"Y-Yea… I'm fine," he sped back up after recovering his composure. He smiled to prove that he was fine.

"What was that all about, Hakkai?" Gojyo teased with a smug expression on his face. He was glad he was finally given a chance to get back at them, "Don't tell me you're interested in a kid like her!"

"Hey!" Ringo yelled indignantly, "I'm not a kid! I'm 21!" She was angry for being mistaken for some young kid.

"You're _21_?!" Gojyo was shocked. He then cleared his throat and moved closer to her, "er… I mean… 21, eh? That's cool. How's about you an' me- ."

He didn't get a chance to finish what he was saying. Without even needing to think about it, Ringo immediately said, "I'm not interested in your cheap tricks and false love, Gojyo."

"Wha-!? Why you…!" he got angry and couldn't think of anything to say to that. Hakkai snickered. "What's so funny, Hakkai?!" Gojyo yelled to the front seat.

"Oh, nothing… nothing," Hakkai responded, still smiling.

"Nothin' my ass…" Gojyo muttered under his breathe.

"Shut up already! We're here!" Sanzo yelled as they drove into a small town.

"What a peaceful drive," Ringo stated, "I mean, in the sense that there were no youkai ambushes to bother us."

They all got out of the car, Ringo and Goku were stretching as Hakuryu transformed into a dragon fluttered up to Hakkai's shoulder to perch.

Goku stopped stretching, "Let's go get hotel rooms before it's too late!" He sounded excited, probably at the prospect of food. He ran off in the direction of the nearest inn, the others following not too far behind.


	9. Chapter 9: A Drink of Cards

Chapter 9: A Drink of Cards

**Chapter 9: A Drink of Cards**

"Hey! Look!" Gojyo exclaimed. "A bar!"

They all looked, and saw what he was talking about.

"I just wanna sleep or something," Ringo said with a heavy sigh, waving her hand in front of her face.

"I agree…" Hakkai said, almost apologetically.

Gojyo let out an annoyed sigh. "Fine," he said, "I'll just go buy some and bring it back then!" He sounded like a triumphant hero who just figured out how to overcome a difficult obstacle during his quest.

"You do that…" Sanzo said, nonchalantly. "However," he looked at the group and held up what appeared to be a room key, "There is only one room. The rest of the hotel is booked already."

"You've gotta be kidding!" both Goku and Gojyo said at the same time.

"No…" Sanzo confirmed.

"ARGH! DAMMIT!" they yelled in unison, "Whose gonna get the bed?!"

"There's two beds… big beds…"Sanzo stated.

"Let's just do what we did last time!" Hakkai suggested cheerily.

"BRING IT ON! I'M READY!" Goku and Gojyo, once again, said at the same time. Their competitive spirits were blazing as they ran off to the room.

"I'm rather…. Confused?" Ringo confessed.

Hakkai smiled. "Well, shall we? It _is_ getting dark after all," he noted, as Jeep transformed back into a dragon. "C'mon, Hakuryu." The little dragon flew up and perched on Hakkai's shoulder.

Ringo was silent for a moment. "Alright! Let's go!" she said, walking forward as she did. Sanzo and Hakkai took their time and followed her.

When they reached the room, Ringo was surprised to see a table in the middle… covered with bottles of booze.

Gojyo suddenly put his foot up on one of the chairs and held a small glass full of a clear liquid above his head. "Tonight," he announced, "We're all going to DRINK OUR ASSES OFF!"

"Are we now?" Hakkai said sarcastically.

"Yes, we are, and we start now!" Gojyo exclaimed as he poured some alcohol out from one of the bottles he had bought into a glass. "Ladies first," he said, and handed the glass to Ringo, with a sort of, "up-to-no-good" expression.

Ringo hesitated before taking the glass from him. As soon as the glass left Gojyo's hand, he busied himself with pouring four more glasses with the contents of the same bottle.

He handed one of the glasses to Goku, "Monkey, you're drinking, too."

Goku grinned, "YAY! Alcohol!!" He received the glass of alcohol from Gojyo, as did Hakkai and Sanzo.

"Ready, everyone?" Gojyo asked, raising his glass into the air.

The others mimicked his action, and then they heartily shouted, "CHEERS!", each of them taking a huge drink form their own glasses.

Gojyo whipped out a deck of cards upon lowering his glass and setting it down on the table and started shuffling them. "Now… to find out who gets the beds," he grinned. He offered the deck out to everyone, and each of them in turn took one of the cards, even Hakuryu jumped up and took one.

"Alright, monkey… what 'cha got?" Gojyo asked, looking confident.

Goku smiled one of his huge smiles and showed his card. "I got a king! Beat that, kappa!"

"Hmmmm…… alright…" Gojyo sneered and turned his card over, revealing an ace.

"ARGH!! Not again!" Goku shouted, flopping onto the floor.

"I got an ace, as well…" Hakkai said, showing his card.

"CHEEP!" Hakuryu turned his around and showed the Ace of Spades.

"Good job, Hakuryu! You beat me!" Hakkai said, smiling.

"CHEEP!" Hakuryu sounded happy.

"Well… I got a joker…" Ringo announced, turning her card to show the others.

"Hmph…" Sanzo showed his card as well, "I have the colored joker…"

"DAAAMMN!" Gojyo said and took another huge gulp of his drink.

"Sorry, Hakuryu…" Hakkai said apologetically to Hakuryu, who would've had a bed if not for Sanzo.

Hakuryu let his down disappointedly.

Ringo thought for a moment, then smiled. "Don't worry, Hakuryu. If you want, you could sleep with me!"

Hakuryu looked at her, then at Hakkai with a questioningly look, "Cheep?"

Hakkai smiled. "It's alright. Go ahead!"

"Cheep!" Hakuryu cheeped as he hopped up onto Ringo's lap.

Gojyo reshuffled all the cards impatiently and somewhat irritatedly. "Alright, alright… now that that's settled, can we get on with the drinking and gambling now?"

Ringo grinned and took the cards Gojyo had just set down on the table. "Let's see…" she said, still grinning, "The game is Seven-Card Poker, boys."

"Alright," the guys in unison, each sitting up around the table.

Sanzo was silent for a moment. "… What's the catch?" he speculated.

Ringo grinned even more. "I'm glad you asked, Sanzo," she said. She went on to explain, "In this game, we're only gonna use our first hand of cards… I mean, we're only going to use the cards that are first dealt to us."

"That's weird!" Gojyo said, not exactly pleased at the moment.

"Let me finish!" Ringo said, equally as not-pleased as Gojyo, only for different reasons, "Instead of using money and betting, whoever wins the hand can make the person of their choice take a drink."

"Hmm!" Gojyo sounded interested, "Not a bad idea if I say so myself!"

Hakkai smiled like he always does, "That's fine with me."

"Ooh! Ooh! Me too!" Goku chimed in excitedly.

Sanzo crossed his arms over his chest, "Whatever…" he muttered.

"Alright then, let's start!" Ringo announced, dealing the cards out to each of them in turn. After she finished dealing, she set the rest of the deck down in the center of the table. She looked around, each of them either smiling, grinning, looking gleeful, or just looking normal. She looked back down at her cards. "Time to see what you've got, boys."

"Why do you keep calling us 'boys'?" Goku asked as he set down his hand, excitedly. "Hah! I got a pair of Queens and a pair of Kings!" He had a smug expression plastered all over his face.

Then Sanzo laid down his cards. "A small straight," he announced. Ringo leaned over to see what he had, and, sure enough, he had a small straight.

"I got a full house," Hakkai announced, smiling.

"I got one, too, but yours is higher…" Ringo said, smiling, but sounding a little disappointed.

A huge smirk spread across Gojyo's face. "Hehe. I got me a flush!" he said ecstatically, "I win! Which means I get to choose who drinks their entire drink!" He seemed very amused.

"And who might you be picking?" Hakkai asked.

"Our little girly over there, of course!" Gojyo exclaimed loudly. His expression had changed from a smirk to a widespread grin.

"What? W-why me?" Ringo was almost nervous to ask.

"Because," Gojyo paused to com up with a reason, "I… I wanna see how well a little girl like you can hold her liquor!" He grinned some more.

"I told you! I'm 21! I'm _not_ a little girl!" she shouted, "I'll prove it!" With that, she grabbed her glass and downed the whole thing in one go. The guys just watched her, rather shocked at the display. Ringo caught her breath and ran the back of her hand over her mouth. "How's that?" she asked, as though making a challenge.

The guys were speechless. They hadn't expected her to go and do something like that.

Ringo moved on, "Okay! Next dealer!" and she passed the cards to the left to Sanzo.

Sanzo took the cards and shuffled, soon after dealing out hands to everyone. They played through the round, this time with Hakkai winning.

"Gojyo, I believe that now it's your turn to drink," he said, smiling.

"Whaaat? Why me?" Gojyo obviously wasn't expecting to be the one chosen.

"Because," he explained, "You made Ringo drink all that, so now it's your turn."

Ringo laughed. "Thanks, Hakkai," she smiled. "I never would've won a hand soon enough to get back at that guy!"

"Don't worry about it," Hakkai said, "I believe it is time for the next dealer."

Sanzo handed Hakkai the cards, and they continued to play their little drinking game and passing the cards around until everyone was way past their drinking limit.

"Man… I'm BEAT," Gojyo complained. He flopped onto one of the floor mats.

"Yeah… I think I'm gonna go to bed, too," Ringo said, opening her arms for Hakuryu to jump up into. As she made her way to the bed, she slipped on one of the blankets on the floor and began falling backwards. However, she didn't fall. She found herself leaning against a person. She looked up to see who it had been that had caught her from falling, she blushed a little at the sudden scenario.

"H-Hakkai! I'm really sorry!" she apologized.

Hakkai chuckled. "Don't worry, it's alright. At least you didn't fall and hurt yourself."

"…T-thanks," she said as she hopped onto the bed. She silently cursed herself for getting so worked up over what had happened. After all, they were still strangers, pretty much.

Hakkai smiled.

"Oh ho ho?! What is this?" came Gojyo's whispering voice from somewhere beside Hakkai.

"What do you mean 'oh ho ho'?" Hakkai asked, also whispering.

"C'mon, man! You know what I'm talkin' about!"

"Really, Gojyo," Hakkai said as he turned over to go to sleep, chuckling softly, "You really need to work on making yourself understood."

"What? Hey! Hey!" Gojyo said, clearly irritated, but he got no response. "C'mon! I know you're not asleep! No one falls asleep that fast! C'mon!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

((Before I start typing this thing, I'd just like to thank the few people who actually read this. And I'd also like to apologize for how slowly I upload it. I'll be working on this more, because I actually have like… 20 something chapters actually written out, albeit they are rather short, but you know… whatever. Anyways, thank you, and I'll do my best to keep it up. So yeah, thanks!))

**Chapter 10**

At first light, despite the difficulties of the after effects of drinking late into the night, the group of five youths set out on the road again.

After about two hours of a mostly-silent drive, the normal "I'm huuuungry…" was said, courtesy of Goku.

Ringo looked at him disbelievingly, "But you just ate a little while ago!"

"You obviously don't know this monkey very well, yet, do you?" Gojyo joked. Half-joked really, as he was half serious as well. It seemed pretty obvious that HGoku liked to eat a lot and was always hungry.

"True… but still… "she said, agreeing with him to the extent of her not knowing Goku as well as he did.

It was then that Gojyo suddenly noticed something. There was something coming off the seat next to him where Ringo sat, something all too familiar to him. Legs. _Female_ legs.

"Do my eyes deceive me?!" Gojyo exclaimed, he was both mocking her and making an interested observation.

"Uh…" Ringo had no rebuke to this fact, as she tugged on the hem of her skirt as close to her knees as possible. "That's not important!" she covered up, "Wow, we've been on the road a while. Hakkai, do you mind if we pull over for a little bit? Maybe get out and stretch?"

Hakkai nodded. "Not at all," he answered, smiling, as he decelerated and eventually came to a stop.

Ringo got up, her body a little cramped and weary from being in the car all day. She stretched a little, grateful for the solid ground beneath her feet at the moment.

"Wow! I guess you _are_ a woman!" Gojyo stated enthusiastically, noting some of her features. "Just lookit those legs!" He grinned. Ringo found herself a little embarrassed, and turned away.

"Gojyo," Hakkai said, disapprovingly, "Stop that. You're making her feel awkward, and we don't need any of that."

"Wha-!" Gojyo was offended, "I was complimenting her! Jeez!"

"In a suggestive way," Hakkai pointed out.

"Just shut up…" Sanzo said in a weary tone, "Can't you see we have a bigger problem here?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing to see what Sanzo was talking about. And before them, they saw a crossroad.

"Damn… that's just great," Gojyo complained, lighting up a cigarette and taking a short puff.

"C'mon, guys! It's just a little split in the road!" Goku said, cheerily, "We'll just pick a way and go!"

Hakkai sat silently, observing the crossroad. It was soon that he noticed something. "We really do have a bit of a problem," he finally said after a few moments of contemplating. You see those rocks over there in between the crossroad? They have marks on them."

"So it's a trap then," Sanzo concluded, almost uninterested.

"Let's see," Ringo though aloud as she picked up a rock and walked to the entrance of one of the split roads. "Let's see…" she suddenly hurled the rock in front of her down the road. Not even a moment later, the very same rock came hurling back towards the group from the other side of the crossroad.

"Definitely a trap," Hakkai said, matter-of-factly.

Then, Sanzo suddenly brought out his gun, and pointed it at the rock that stood between the two roads.

"C'mon, Sanzo," Gojyo criticized, "Things are never that easy, man."

However, Sanzo ignored him. He fired his gun at the rock, shattering it into hundreds of pieces. As the rock shattered, the crossroads seemed to dissolve away, and what was really barring their way was a hill, covered with lots of huge trees.

"…Right," Gojyo corrected himself, "I guess things _can_ be that easy, sometimes."

Just then, a strange voice boomed out from nowhere, "Foolish people! You just dug your own graves! HAHAHA!!"

"What the hell is this?" Goku asked, looking around for the source of the voice.

"I don't know, but it can't be good if someone tells you that you've dug your own grave…" Ringo explained.

"Well, what the hell does that damn voice want?" Gojyo demanded, as he took another puff from his cigarette, and then tossed it on the ground, snuffing it out with the heel of his shoe.

Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of them. "I'm sorry," he said, with the same voice from earlier, "Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Inari."


	11. Chapter 11

OH MY GOSH THOSE OF YOU WHO READ THIS I LOVE YOU. Just saying. I've been really busy, what with college and all, but I promise I will work on it more! Seriously. It totally just…. Gets to me… when I go to my email and I see an email from fanfiction that's all like "HEY YOU HAVE A REVIEW" and that reviews like "HEY WRITE MORE PLEASE D:" so yeah. I promise I will try to do more. XD 3

By the way, here is a link to my deviantart account, I have a file thing with some pictures I have drawn of Ringo and stuff, if you're interested. XD I will be drawing more later XD gavottes-gavotte .deviantart .com/ OK BUT. there are unnecessary spaces between each part cause things are being ridiculous and im not computer saavy enough to get around it. yaaay.

**Chapter 11**

"H-how?" Ringo stuttered, staring wide-eyed at the figured that had just introduced himself as "Inari." "You look just like…" She nervously put her hands up to her chest.

Hakkai looked over to her, suddenly remembering the story she had told him when he caught her outside of his room. He stepped closer to her, in a reassuring manner. He saw the fear and confusion in her face, not knowing that deep down, she was feeling a mixture of anger along with that.

"Oh? Who is that I see there?" Inari said, as he walked up to Ringo, "Oh! Hello 'Honey'!"

Gojyo then interjected. "Wait a minute! Didn't you say you killed this guy already?" He didn't sound very impressed.

"He doesn't look very dead to me!" Goku added.

Inari laughed.

"It'll take more than that to kill me, my dear," he said as he reached out to Ringo and lifted a lock of her hair in his hand. "To tell the truth, I'm just as surprised as you are right now, darling."

Ringo slapped away his hand. "Stop calling me those names! Just what do you want?!"

Inari frowned for only a moment, taking a step back from the group of people before him. He smirked, and folded his arms over his chest. "Oh, but you see, sweetums," he mocked her, "Your friends here broke my favorite rock, and I want them to pay me back."

"Excuse me," Hakkai interrupted, "But she told you to stop calling her those names." He smiled bitterly.

Inari smiled back, equally bitter. "Oh, I'm sorry, but I don't think you have any say in any of this."

"Inari! That's enough!" Ringo shouted angrily.

"I see you haven't changed a bit, plunder-bunny," Inari continued to tease her, "Always so short of temper."

Ringo clenched her fists tightly, resisting the overwhelming urge to brutally rip his head from his shoulders, break every one of his bones, and then sever his manhood and feed it to a pack of wild dogs. No, she had more self-control than that. For now.

"What's this? A skirt?" he teased her even more, "Aren't you the one who said that you hated skirts so much? Don't tell me you actually became a lady in such a short amount of time."

Nevermind. Thinking about it, it would be more effective to break every bone in his body first, followed by the severing of his manhood and feeding to wild dogs. THEN she would rip his head form his shoulders. That way he could experience all the pain and horror it would cause.

"Just shut up!" Ringo demanded, clenching her fists tighter.

Inari smirked once again, clearly pleased with himself. "Oh, but we're having so much fun!" He then tried to reach out to her again, but was blocked by all the others suddenly stepping in his way.

"I don't recommend touching her," Hakkai said, matter-of-factly. He still wore his bitter smile.

"You can't touch our little girl!" Gojyo added, smiling with the full force of his ego behind it.

"Yeah! …er… Even though she's bigger than me!" Goku shouted, adding the latter as more of a side note.

"You're in our way," Sanzo stated simply, raising his gun level with Inari's face. "Move. Now."

Ringo stood there. Somewhat surprised by the support she was receiving from them. "You guys… thank you!" She smiled, not having thought that, even after what seemed like such a short time, they were willing to defend her like this.

Inari frowned again. Put off by these annoyances. "What good friends you have, my ducky," he said, clearly upset. "I guess now I'll have to deal with you!"

"Good. At least you'll shut up," Sanzo said, his gun still pointed at Inari.

Hakkai sighed. "And here I was hoping that maybe this drive of ours would be more leisurely. Guess not."

"Let's get this over with already!" Goku said impatiently, "I'm hungry!"

"You think this'll be easy, do you?" Inari sneered. He jumped back and hunched forward as two large, black wings emerged form his back. He then quickly stood up straight, assuming an appropriate stance for a battle.

Sanzo snorted indignantly. "Those things on your back only make you a bigger target," he said matter-of-factly.

"So you think." Inari flapped his wings then, taking to the sky.

"Hey! No fair!" Goku pouted, "I can't beat you up when you're up there and I'm down here!"

"Quit your whining," Sanzo demanded as he shot his gun at Inari. However, his bullets just seemed to glance right off. "Tch. What the hell is this?"

Hakkai placed his hand on Sanzo's shoulder. "Please allow me to try," he said as he gathered his chi energy and shot it out at Inari. Once again though, when the attack neared, it seemed to dissipate. "Well, this sure won't do.."

Ringo thought for a second. She then turned to Hakkai. "Will you do me a favor?" she asked, with an almost apologetic smile on her face.

"Of course."

Ringo took hold of her bracelets, and began sliding them off her wrist. "I want you to hold on to these for me. I… I don't know how long I can control myself, but I figure this way I can at least go up where that bastard is." She then completely removed her bracelets from her wrist and placed them in Hakkai's hand. She then took a few steps back, and, within a matter of a few seconds, her nails grew long and sharp again and her eyes slitted, her ears also growing long and thin, followed by the protruding of fangs, and then, to top it off, white wings sprouted from her back.

"What?!" Gojyo suddenly exclaimed, ruining the moment that had just passed. "I didn't know she could do that! Hakkai, did you?"

"Well, yes. I did," Hakkai confessed, smiling despite himself.

Inari watched on from his aerial position. "How exciting!" he said, "Will you be able to injure me again? Or was before just a lucky fluke?"

Letting out a low growl, Ringo suddenly shot upwards at him.

Inari shrugged and shook his dead, unimpressed. "Tsk, tsk, dear. You forgot about my shield."

And he was right. Just as he said that, Ringo flew right into it. However, she didn't merely bounce right off, as previous attacks had done. She flapped her wings harder and harder, as though will alone would get her through that damn shield. But it didn't budge.

"You always were stupid, honey," he sneered at her.

"You… already…" Ringo said through heavy breaths, as she forced her claws into the shield, attempting to tear it apart, "…Already… called me… that one!" With her final word, she forced her way into the shield, ripping it apart, and hurtled herself towards Inari.

"What?!" Inari sounded incredulous. "How did you-?!" However, he was cut short by Ringo's fast approach, her claws extended.

He managed to evade her attack, coming awfully close to being ripped by her sharp claws. Ringo smirked. "I thought you said I was stupid!"

"Wow…" Gojyo said, watching the events from the ground.

"What? Impressed by her abilities?" Hakkai asked him.

"No," Gojyo responded, "I can see up her skirt!" He grinned.

Ringo suddenly shouted from above, "You bastard! Stop looking! I'm trying to concentrate!"

Inari chuckled. "You sure are comfortable with them." He sighed. "I guess this means I'll have to kill then first, so I can see your agony!" He then suddenly shot down towards them.

Realizing what was going on, Ringo gave her wings a few good flaps to pursue Inari, however for some reason she found she couldn't.

"Wh-What?!"

"Just stay there, kitty-cat," Inari began to explain, "That is my special Spirit Box. You won't be able to get out! Think of it as a gift!"

Down on the ground, Sanzo reloaded his gun. "Get ready…" he said, "to kick the shit out of this little bastard."

The four of them assumed their battle stances, preparing to fend off Inari, while Ringo, trapped inside the Spirit Box, tried to break free.

"Damn it…" she wheezed as she hurtled herself against the wall of the Box, "It won't break!"

"I already told you, my dove! You can't break it, no matter how hard you try!"

While Inari was distracted, Hakkai whispered something to Sanzo. However, Inari quickly turned his attention back towards them, flinging dark needles at them, "No plotting now, gents! Someone could get hurt!"

However, everyone managed to dodge the needles. Then, Sanzo said to Hakkai, "Alright. But make it quick."

Hakkai nodded. "Of course." He then ran over to the other side of the suspended Box containing Ringo and shot multiple chi blasts at it.

"I see now…" Inari chuckled, "Good luck, fella, but that thing ain't breaking!"

"Just ignore him!" Ringo called out, "All he ever says is lies!" Suddenly, she lurched forward, clutching onto her head. "N-no…" her eyes slitted even narrower as she began to lose control.

"You'd better hurry, Hakkai!" Gojyo shouted as he knocked a couple of needles thrown by Inari out of the air.

"We can't keep stopping these things forever!" Goku agreed as he also deflected incoming needles.

Hakkai nodded with determination, shooting more chi blasts at the box, and with help from the rampaging Ringo inside, it started to crack.

"Tch." Inari frowned. He then increased the number of needles he was throwing, seeming to have an endless supply.

Just then, ,Goku called out. He had been struck by one of the needles, said needle protruding from his leg. "Gah…" he slowed down for only a split second, but within that split second, four more needles were lodged in his back, legs, and chest.

"Goku!" Hakkai exclaimed with worry, just as six more needles shot down through him.

Goku smirked, "This… is nothing." Though he said it confidence, his breath was coming out heavy, and he had slowed down considerably. He fell to his knees with exhaustion.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Inari jested, satisfied with himself. "Those are my special needles. I applied a poison that I developed myself to them. And well, I figured you're special since you're such good friends with my special angel dear." He pointed at Ringo, who was still grasping her head, her breathing becoming more and more labored. He then laughed. "Only the best for my honey's friends."

Goku staggered forward a few steps. "D-damn…" his vision had become blurred and his muscles went numb as he collapsed onto the ground.

"Monkey!" Gojyo ran towards him, but was suddenly shocked by the sudden pain as he was struck in the back. "Augh!" He got hit again, but this time in the shoulder.

"Gojyo!" Hakkai shouted as Gojyo fell to the floor. Hakkai shot another chi blast at the box, its fracture growing a little more. It was difficult to manage, as his sight was beginning to blur, and he could feel his energy sap away slowly. Then, he was suddenly overcome by another rush of pain as he was struck by yet another needle.

"Dammit Hakkai!" Sanzo exclaimed as he shot at Inari again, unsuccessfully. He couldn't see straight, much like the others, due to the needles sticking out of his back.

"You sure are a stubborn bunch," Inari said as he aimed his next needle at Sanzo. Just as Sanzo squeezed the trigger on his gun, Inari let the single needle go, the needle passing clean through the bullet as it sped towards Sanzo, piercing him in the collarbone.

Sanzo dropped to his knees, one hand wrenching the needle from his body, the other pointing his gun up into the air. Inari thought that he was aiming for him, amused by the fact that the aim was so clearly off. As Sanzo squeezed the trigger twice in quick succession, Inari realized too late that it was not him Sanzo was aiming for, but for the Spirit Box.

Sanzo then collapsed onto the ground, his final two shots enough to break the Box. Ringo fell like a dead weight out of the box, landing on her feet when she hit the ground.

"What?!" Inari was shocked that someone had actually managed to break his Spirit Box. It had taken him some time to perfect that technique, and he thought it was invincible. He then calmed down. "Heh. No big deal. You've probably lost all human thought, haven't you, dear?"

Ringo slowly straightened up and turned to face Inari, a wild look in her eye as she glared at him. "….Wouldn't that be great for you?" Once again Inari was shocked. However, Ringo wasted no time in taking to the sky again, dashing right towards him.

He raised a finger and waved it at her. "You've already tried that one, snicker-doodle," he jeered as he got ready to dodge. However, before he did, Ringo changed direction. "W-What are you doing?"

She put her hands in front of her, energy forming within them and shot straight towards Inari at a startling speed, charging as fast as she could. She brought her hands back a little bit, preparing for a strike at Inari, shooting them forward again as she got closer to him.

Though Inari somehow managed to avoid the main force of the attack, he was hit by the aftershock wave of energy that had formed within Ringo's hands.

He dropped to the ground. "Heh. This is all the time I have for now… So, until next time, sugar cake." He laughed, then suddenly disappeared.

Ringo then dropped to her knees, exhausted from everything. This was the longest she had ever stayed in her demon form, and she was quickly losing energy and control.

"N..No…" she fumbled around, looking for her bracelets, remembering that hse had left them with Hakkai. She painstakingly crawled to where Hakkai laid, his breaths coming out short and fast. She took her bracelets from his possession and quickly slid them back over her wrist. With that, all of her demonic features returned to normal. She was relieved to be back to normal, though incredibly drained as well. She quickly turned around and threw up, from both relief and all the tension that resulted from her demon form, and just what had happened with Inari in general. She then suddenly remembered that Sanzo, Hakkai, Gojyo and Goku were all lying there on the ground, Inari's poison coursing through their veins.

"Guys?!" she placed her hands on Hakkai, checking his pulse and his breathing. "H-Hakkai?" she stuttered nervously, almost in tears. "This is all my fault… you guys never would've gotten hurt if I hadn't messed up like that…" She then closed her eyes and started crying, the first tear rolling down her cheek. "If only I hadn't gotten caught like that…"

She was startled as she felt a hand wipe the tears from her face. She quickly opened her eyes and saw Hakkai smiling wistfully at her.

"Hakkai!" she grabbed his hand with her own worriedly. She noticed how cold it was.

Hakkai coughed. "I-I'm glad you're okay…" He cringed in a sudden rush of pain.

It was then that Ringo realized something. The slowed vitals, heavy breathing, and loss of warmth in the body. It was because of the poison, obviously, but, because of these signs, and because of the fact that it was one of Inari's poisons, she realized what it was.

"Don't move! Don't do anything! I-I think I know how to help! Just… Just don't die!" she stood and ran over to where her pack was and started rummaging through it. She then found what she was looking for: a small vial-like bottle containing a clear liquid, it looked much like a small, old-fashioned perfume bottle. She quickly ran back to Hakkai and kneeled down by him, lifting his head and placing it on her lap.

"Open you're mouth…" she commanded, placing her hand on his cheek. He obeyed, though not without difficulty. She carefully removed the top from the bottle, a pleasant drifting out from it. She held it above his mouth. "It's not going to taste good… but you have to swallow it," she instructed a little nervously. She then poured a couple of drops into his open mouth, the bad taste making itself apparent by Hakkai's disdainful reaction.

She replaced the stopper on the bottle once Hakkai's breathing returned to being more normal. She then ran over to the others, repeating the process of giving them a few drops each.

Once she knew that they were all going to be okay, Ringo carefully brought them one by one, with their arms around her neck for support, over to where they had left Hakuryu. She laid them each wherever she could lay them at least somewhat comfortably, and then proceeded to climb into the driver's seat.

"C'mon, Hakuryu…" she said, calmly, knowing that everything was going to be okay for the time being. "We have to get out of here…"

Hakuryu replied with a "Cheep!" as Ringo eased the gas pedal and drove away. She didn't know where she was going. All she knew was that she wanted to get far away from there.

After some time, Ringo heard movement in the back. She turned around to see Sanzo slowly sit up.

"Sanzo!" she hit the brake and quickly turned around in her seat to face him.

"D-Damn… What happened?" he asked, all too aware of the fatigue he felt.

"I helped you with the poison… and… I kinda drove away to give you all a chance to recover," she explained. "That poison is terrible… It can kill you in as fast as fifteen minutes, or as slow as 15 minutes…" she added the last bit, feeling obligated to say more.

Sanzo merely grunted, and lay back down. After a few seconds it was apparent to Ringo that he had probably fallen asleep, so she turned back around, driving away again.


End file.
